Nigel Sylvester flew over to Paris to join the 10 year anniversary of Soul BMX magazine. They’ll have a crazy street session on Saturday with tons of riders and little fun contests at each stop. Maxime Charveron will be there as well. Nigel will make an appearance at La Cremerie BMX shop in Paris on Friday night 20 June from 8pm together with Tom White and Edwin Delarosa. Alessandro Barbero (Italy) flew over to Baltimore to try to qualify for the 2008 Dew Tour. He will meet up with already qualified Mirraco riders Mike Laird, Mike Spinner, Dave Mirra and Ryan Guettler.

Sorry for the hold up but I am super busy with accounts and the new frames and components…straight from NASS into the shops again! NASS went pretty well, I think Alessandro Barbero was slightly disappointed with the result and his runs because he didn’t quite land all of his tricks, doesn’t stop him from smiling though! Fridays Practice: went pretty good, super busy on the course but Ale landed a super clean triple-whip on the box jump amongst other tricks and came out of the practice session feeling OK. Saturdays Qualifying: was frustrating because Ale was the last rider to ride in a field of about 60, they didn’t give the riders further down the list a second warm up half way through so Ale was left sitting there for an hour and a half not doing anything!! Finally came to his run and everything went pretty good. He qualified in 5th after a solid run, perfect 360-double whip, but slipped the pedals on the triple-whip and came up just slightly short whilst flip-whipping up the step-up, still landed it but it was a bit sketchy. Sunday Finals: The standard in the final was really good, Mark Webb and Daniel Dehrs were both riding amazingly, especially Mark. Ale broke his brake cable half way through practice, so after a quick scramble we ran round to the Crucial BMX stand (MirraCo account) who were more than happy to donate a cable in order to get Alessandro back on his bike. (Big thanks to the Maria at Crucial!) He finished up in 6th, which wasn’t bad at all, he had a pretty good run and landed some really nice tricks smooth! He has got 360-double whips dialled! He landed the triple-whip and the flip-whip and was hitting the box jump backwards all weekend with some nice style. Unfortunately he crashed on a downside-whip had a pedal slip or two else where. Tried the whip to whip-back as his final trick and so nearly got it……..but not quite! I’ve got to go because I’m late for a meeting. Paul Lonsdale Mirraco UK

When you’re “full factory” Mirraco you’re running the Black Label Gas pedals with Titanium spindles. These pedals are super light, yet strong. The Lightweight magnesium cage with precision sealed bearings has 6 replaceable and 4 molded pins per side and a knurled, concaved body for better traction. Available in 9/16″ so it will fit your three piece cranks. Visit your local dealer to see if you can look factory too.

BMX has been around for a long time. The trends come and go. Neon bikes to black bikes. Front brakes to no brakes. Heavy bikes to the new trend of ultralight bikes.

Dave Mirra’s logic was simple. If he weighs 165 lbs and is riding a bike that weighs under 22 lbs, a kid who weighs 100 lbs would have to work almost twice as hard to flow a 22 lbs bike. Although his math sucked, his logic was spot on and so Dave’s “Project” was born. But, how do you build a steel bike under 20lbs? Easy answer: you don’t. The Solution: Aluminium.

Welcome to the Project 16.

Frame: Project Series Alloy 16″, 6061 T6, 16.5″ Top Tube Frame: Colors: Black anodized Fork: MirraCo Full Crmo Headset TH / FPD 1-1/8″ Integrated headset w/ 15mm cap -Drivetrain Components Crankset: Lightweight 3-Piece Crmo 152mm Bottom Bracket: Euro BB / 4 Sealed bearing, 48 spline 19mm hollow axle Chainwheel: M3 Alloy 25t Freewheel: Cassette 9T cog Chain: KMC Z610 Pedals: Wellgo Magnesium Jr. 9/16″ w/ molded pins, Crmo axles -Control Center Components Handlebar: MirraCo 2-pc 6061-T6 Alloy, 150mm tall, anodized Stem: M3 Downside CNC Alloy Aheadset: 1-1/8″ Grips: Odyssey Dash Mini w/ flange Saddle: MirraCo M3 Jr. 7mm rails Seat Post: Alloy Micro-Adjust two-bolts, 27.2×200mm Seat Post Clamp: M3 alloy 31.8mm -Wheelset Components Front Hub: Alloy 28H 2 sealed bearings, 3/8″ Crmo axle Rear Hub: Alloy Cassette sealed bearings 28H, 3/8″ Crmo axle / RHD Rims: Alloy 16″ 28H black anodized Spokes: Stainless black, 15g Tires: Maxxis Hookworm 16″x1.95″, 110 PSI Pegs: Colony “One-Way Street” 7005 heat -treated alloy, 1 pair for 3/8″ axles -Braking Components Rotor: SST with SST upper & lower cables Brake Set: Diatech 997 U-Brake rear w/ grey soft compound pads Brake Levers: Tektro 289 alloy w/ adjuster Weight: 18.7 lbs/8.5 kgs Price: $ 659.99 *Specifications, geometry and pricing subject to change at any time and without notice.

Ryan Guettler grabs the Vital microphone and talks about his Whip 2 shoe. He explains what went into the shoe, why he chose the features it has and the talking is complemented with riding in his own backyard and at Dave Mirra’s ramps. Check it by going HERE.

Alessandro Barbero will fly over to the UK from Italy to participate at the 2008 Nass fest. Mirraco UK is going to look after him while he’s there. They’ve got a tent and sleeping bag ready for him at this giant festival that includes all types of action sports and music concerts too. More on the event and Ale’s experiences after the weekend. Have fun Alessandro! Nassfest.

Next week the 2008 Dew Tour series kicks off in Baltimore. It’s not possible to just show up and enter this contest. You need to be a pro rider and also you need to have an invitation in the pocket otherwise you’re stuck at the pre-qualification contest that takes place the days before the actual event at the first two stops. The following Mirraco riders do not have to worry about that as they received their invitation based on their contest results in the past: BMX Dirt: -Ryan Guettler BMX Park: -Ryan Guettler -Mike Spinner -Dave Mirra -Mike Laird Leave a comment to this post and wish them luck.

Mike Laird had set his standards pretty high with his previous Mirraco ad. He foot jammed a forklift which turned out to be one of the better Mirraco ads. The new one has a sequence of Mike taking it to the streets with a tailwhip 180 to rollback out. The advertisement should appear in the upcoming issues of BMX Plus! and RIDE BMX. The sequence was shot in Greenville, North Carolina by Jerry Nichols.

Alessandro finished third at the event behind Mike Spinner and Daniel Dhers. Here’s the link to the video: Barbero at FISE

The first weekend of next month the BMX Masters take place in Cologne, Germany. Next to European Mirraco riders Maxime Charveron (France) and Alessandro Barbero (Italy), also Ryan Guettler (Australia) will make the trip over to the biggest BMX only event in Europe. There is plenty to ride in Cologne; dirt, mini, park, vert and flatland. Which disciplines Ryan will decide to ride we’ll know after the weekend of 4-6 July 2008. The photo shows you the back cover of the next Freedom BMX magazine which will come out the week before the BMX Masters event. It shows Guettler in a park in England. Thanks to Mirraco distributor La Finca for that one. They just received some new Mirraco bikes there too.